Alonso victory puts Renault in pole position

SPANIARD Fernando Alonso claimed his second career win and moved to the top of the world championship table when he eased to victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday.

Alonso led from pole position and overcame minor handling troubles in the closing stages to stay ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli, who took a satisfying second place to give Toyota their first ever Formula One podium finish.

Alonso had to crouch on the podium after an energy-sapping race spent without the use of a drinks bottle and he admitted: "It was very tough conditions and I finished on the limit today. We knew before the start of the race that it would be tough, but my drinks bottle didn't work and I had problems. But I was not pushing very hard during the race and the car was easy to drive.

Trulli was delighted with his podium finish and said: "I had an extremely good start but the Renault seems to get away well. It is fantastic to bring the first podium finish to Toyota. We were quite comfortable on reliability even though the conditions are difficult here and the team have done a good job over the winter."

But the battle for third place was being waged with real fervour as Australian Grand Prix winner Giancarlo Fisichella fought with Williams pair Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld and Toyota's Ralf Schumacher for the final place on the podium.

The position eventually went to German Heidfeld, who secured his first podium for Williams, after Fisichella and Webber crashed into retirement and Schumacher faded away in the closing stages.

Heidfeld said: "It was very hot. My drink bottle failed it always happens where you don't want it to. I had to push quite hard because I was only 10th in qualifying. I had a good start and some good overtaking moves."

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya played a calculated race and moved up from 11th on the grid to finish fourth for McLaren, just ahead Schumacher in fifth, with David Coulthard sixth for Red Bull Racing.

World champion Michael Schumacher scored his first points of the season in seventh as he stayed ahead of eighth-placed Austrian Chrisitan Klien, who ensured Red Bull Racing secured a second consecutive double points finish.

Alonso made a clean start to lead into the first corner and Trulli managed to stay ahead of Fisichella as the rest of the pack jostled for position at the start of what would be a gruelling race.

The race was all over for BAR-Honda on lap two when Anthony Davidson, substituting for Takuma Sato, stopped when his engine expired and Button also slowed to a stop with a tell-tale smoke trail coming out of his car.

Austrian Patrick Friesacher spun and got stuck in the gravel trap on lap two in his Minardi and he also stopped to leave the field with 17 cars remaining after a frantic couple of opening laps.

By the end of the first set of stops Alonso was back in the lead, 12 seconds ahead of Trulli, who was still managing to stay on pace with the leaders, and Fisichella a further 6.7 seconds back.

Ralf Schumacher was fifth with Heidfeld, in the second Williams, in sixth, Montoya seventh in his McLaren and Barrichello up to eighth after getting past the two Red Bull Racing cars through the stops.

Webber passed Fisichella on lap 38 but the Renault driver tried to fight back in the final corner of the lap and the pair collided as Fisichella locked his brakes and slid into Webber.

Fisichella's car spun over the nose of Webber's Williams and the two drivers were out of the race, promoting Heidfeld into third, Ralf Schumacher back up to fourth and Michael Schumacher into the points in eighth.